


Three to Get Ready

by JillyBeans_storycorner



Series: One for the Money [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, psychological tourture - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-18 18:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7325680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JillyBeans_storycorner/pseuds/JillyBeans_storycorner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The third installment of the "One for the Money" series. With Shepherd still at large, Steve's desire to keep the team safe at all costs is starting to interfere with Five-0's investigations. When Danny, Kono, and Chin attempted to get themselves back into working a order, little do they know the crack they're exposing in their own fortress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Class Reunion

The two women collapsed back at the high top, arm in arm, and laughing hysterically. 

“Oh my god” Oliana all but snorted “I haven’t done that since high school!” 

“What the ‘Macerana’ or steping on the toes of the cute guy who was checking you out, _twice_?” Kono grinned and nudged her in the arm. 

“You two are almost having too fun out there.” Keller remarked. “Careful or the chief is gonna think you’re not taking this assignment seriously.” 

“Relax.” Kono said with an easy smile. “Part of undercover is you have to blend in. We’d draw more attention to ourselves tucked off in a corner not enjoying ourselves. We dance a little, keep sipping on sodas that passes for mixed drinks, and the whole time keep our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.” 

“Thanks for the for the tip. You know it makes so much more sense now, then when we were sitting through that lecture on undercover work together, Kono.” 

“Hey Tony, why don’t you continue to keep up our flawless cover and go get us pretty ladies some more dinks, huh?” Oliana interjected quickly. “Come on I’m almost out here.” She shook her drink in his direction. 

“What was that about?” Kono asked as Keller stalked off, the ice front from his cold shoulder hitting her as he passed. 

“No clue.” Oliana said, a little too of handedly. “Probably just pissed because he’s not getting laid tonight.” 

“I thought Sara was still working the cruise lines this time of year?” 

“She is as far as I know. They broke up like eight months ago.” 

“I had no idea” Kono said, dumbfounded. 

“Yeah, but you know Tony. He never puts updates on social media, I don’t even know why he bothers to have any accounts in the first place.” Oliana trailed off. 

“Jaz,” Kono said seriously. “What is it?” 

“What’s what?” Oliana replied too quickly. 

“You’re avoiding me. When I asked you what was up with Tony you redirected the question. What’s going on with you two tonight?” 

“Kono, this really isn’t the place-“ 

“Jasmine, whatever it is just tell me.” 

Oliana cast a sideways glance in Kono’s direction then began fiddling with the straw in her drink. 

“Look, Kono, the thing is- everybody feels, kinda, awkward around you, you know?” 

“No.” Kono’s eyes narrowed. “No, I don’t know. Tell me.” 

“I mean,” Oliana sighed “look at this from our point of view. We all graduated the academy in the same class. Except you got to skip rookie blues and walked straight onto a state task force. I mean, for you this undercover gig is no big deal but the rest of us wouldn’t even be here if this place didn’t have an unspoken ’25 and under’ age limit.” 

“Jaz, I never asked-“ 

“I know. But you were getting your name on major cases while I was writing parking tickets. Hell, I don’t even have my own desk yet, and I’ve seen that _ninini aku_ office you’ve got over there. Look Kono, I’m not saying I blame you for being a success, or that you don’t deserve it, but, you’re the freshman who gets to sit at the senior table. You can’t blame the rest of us for being a little jealous.” 

“No, of course not.” Kono blinked. “I’m gonna do a sweep on the way to the bathrooms. Be right back.” 

**************

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! I'm sorry I've kept you waiting so long for an update. Finding time to write has been a struggle recently. I was having a hard time figuring out how to kick off this next half of the series, but I finally getting the juices flowing.


	2. Wake Up Call

Kono took a deep breath then pushed through the doors of HQ. She’d slept through her alarm for ten minutes, making her approximately twenty-six minutes late thanks to traffic, which means that she’d likely be walking into something that resembled an active volcanic eruption. 

“Morning.” Chin said from his usual spot at the tech table, an extra cup of coffee waiting for her. 

Kono grimaced. “How bad is it?” 

“Oh, you mean McGarrett being completely on the war path? Not as bad as it could be. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually know how to strangle someone over the phone.” 

She glanced warily over to McGarrett’s office, where the big man himself was pacing back and forth in hyper driver; phone in one hand, the other gesticulating wildly enough to rival Danny’s flying hands. The latter was watching from the safety his own office, probably waiting for the right moment to jump in and start placating. The two of them made eye contact through the glass, and Danny gave her a look that clearly said ‘He’s all yours.’” 

“-I understand that. But what you’re not understanding is that she was on lone from _my_ unit without my knowledge or approval. Officer Kalakaua is Five-0, not HPD, and the next time you need assistance from one of my people, you go through the proper channels starting with me. Is that clear?” 

“Boss?” Kono tapped lighty on the glass door to announce her presence. _She was in for it now_

Steve looked over at her and nodded, his expression softening mildly. “Yes.” he said into the reciever. “Thank you, that’s all I’m asking. All right, thank you.” With that he put down the phone. 

“All right.” he said leaning against the desk. “Let’s hear it.” 

“I’m sorry I went behind your back.” Kono conceded honestly. “They asked me join in at the last minute, we were all, all ready off the clock, I didn’t think to tell you.” 

“You told Chin.” 

Kono lowered her eyes guilty, _He had her on that one._

“I don’t get it Kono.” Steve continued. “You know what kind of situation we’re dealing with, you saw what happened to Danny. We’re still not any closer to finding Shepherd than we were two weeks ago, and I can’t risk any of you being the next target.” 

“I know, Steve. I’m sorry. It was one night undercover security. The club had, had a break-in last week. Nothing was taken and HPD thinks it was probably some small time armatures looking for a quick score, who spit when they realized how tightly the cash and equipment was locked up. But last night they were hosting their annual ‘90’s Throw Back’ party, it’s their biggest event of the year, so HPD sent in extra security just incase. They needed undercovers who would blend in with the crowd, so basically my entire class from the academy was assigned to it, I got offered the chance to work with them so I jumped on it.” 

_Even though they all apparently can't stand me any more._

“And did you ever stop to think that, that could have been a trap?” Steve demanded. “Big event at a night club that was just suspiciously broken into, lots of people potentially at risk, so HPD sends in a bunch of young officers as a preemptive measure?” 

“The entire place was being monitored by HPD, the whole night. There’s no way Shepherd could have-“ 

“And there should have been no way that he could have stashed Danny right in the middle of the Palace, right under our noses. You need to stop thinking like a rookie Kono. Right now we are operating under the assumption that there is nothing that Shepherd is not capable of. Which means until he’s caught, no one can be taking stupid risks, do you got it?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good. Until further notice while you’re on duty you need to be with at least one member of the team at all times. Is that clear?” 

“Yes.” Kono replied again. The pit of her stomach felt heavy. _Disappointing Steve was apparently along the same lines as disappointing her parents or Chin._ Steve didn’t say anything as she turned for the door, which she took as meaning she was dismissed for now. 

“Hey.” Danny said, poking his head out of his office and nodding for her to come in. She followed him in and sat down in front of his desk, while Danny sat on the edge of it next to her. 

“He laid into you pretty hard, huh?” Danny asked, glancing over at Steve’s office again. 

“I don’t know, I probably got off easy considering.” Kono said with a shrug. “I think he’s more disappointed in me than anything.” 

“Which can sometimes feel about a million times worse, I know.” Danny finished her thought. _At least he didn’t seem upset with her._

Danny sighed. “His heart's in the right place. We both know that. But we also both know that it’s McGarrett: and he can get more than a little over protective, and obsessive, and borderline insane to the point of whipping out grenades at random, but we’ll figure out how to deal with it. We have before, we’ll do it again, probably until the day we die. So don’t worry about it, ok. You’re off the hook. In fact you’re not even on the hook to begin with.” 

He smiled and clasped her hand reassuringly. She squeezed his briefly in return. 

“Thanks Danny.” She said with a smile. 

Danny didn’t return it time. In fact his face was falling quickly, eyes fixed on something over her shoulder. 

“Not good.” he said and slid of the desk and out the door in one swift movement. 

Kono followed him back out into the bull pen, where she could now see the very miffed looking Governor walking straight toward them. 

_Shit. Really not good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying a new formula where I break things down into smaller, shorter, chapters so I update more regularly. Let me know which method you guys prefer: short chapters ever one or two days, or, long chapters that are less regular. As always thanks for reading and to all fellow Americans, happy 4th of July weekend!


	3. Ultimatum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Governor arrives to deliver a new case, and a warning, to Five-0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm the worst and dropped of the grid for way too long a time but I'm back now so please enjoy!

“Governor” Steve said, shooting out of his office. “To what do we owe-“ 

“Save it.” Denning cut to the chase “I’d like you to explain to me exactly why, while I was all ready on my way over here to discuss the lack of efficacy your team has been demonstrating as of late, I received an angry phone call from the Police Commissioner saying that you had just been barking down the phone to the Chief of Police over an undercover assignment orchestrated by HPD.” 

“Sir, with all due respect, he recruited Officer Kalakaua without authorizing it with me-” 

Denning fixed him with a hard look. “Which he had every right to do. Five-0 currently has no active cases. The Chief was well in his right to request personnel as needed.” 

He shifted a poinent glance at Kono, who tried hard not to look away. _Steve was normally the one who dealt with the Governor, and she couldn’t deny that he made her slightly nervous._

“Governor, you need to appreciate the situation we’re dealing with here; there is a perp still at large who has all ready abducted two members of the team, myself included. I’m not sure of his motives but the threat against all members of Five-0 is creditable and I have to put the safety of my team first.” 

“I understand your position Commander. But the fact is that there has been no actual, recorded, threat against Five-0.” 

“Sir-“ 

Denning held up a hand for silence. “I trust your instincts McGarrett. That’s why I’ve been more lenient with you than I probably should. But right now this task force is not operating to serve it’s purpose. Don’t think I haven’t been informed about your refusal to allow your team to separate to accomplish different tasks. I can’t have a case fall apart because you’re letting your personal feelings cloud your leadership.” 

“Yes, sir.” Steve replied evenly, despite looking like he’d just been kicked in the face. 

“Five-0 is being assigned a new case.” Denning continued, handing Steve a file. “The owner of the night club HPD was surveilling last night was found dead this morning. This, combined with the previous break-in, leads us to believe that we may be on the verge of a major attack on a popular venue. I want this case solved as a priority, and with the up most efficiency. If not, I may have to consider reassigning command of this task force.” 

Kono turned to Steve with wide eyes, Danny and Chin did the same, both looking gobsmacked. Steve however remained perfectly stoic, his face neutral. 

“Understood sir.” 

“Good.” Denning said with a tone of finality. “I’ll be keeping track of your progress personally, and I expect regular reports on the investigation. We’ll meet personally on Monday to discuss your progress. I sincerely hope you don’t force me to make a decision.” 

And with that, Denning turned on his heel and left. 

“Steve-“ Chin said solemnly. 

“You heard the man.” McGarrett said tersely. “We’ve got a case, let’s go.” 

“You wanna talk about what just happened there?” Danny gestured to the door. 

“Grab the gear, this is the address” Steve said handing the file to Chin. 

“Boss, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this-“ 

“Kono, not now.” 

********************* 

“The victim is male, approximately forty three years old.” Max explained, walking them over to where the body of the nightclub owner, Harold Clark, lay underneath a white sheet, pools of blood visible around the edges.   
Max knelt down and lifted the sheet away. “The initial cause of death appears to be two gunshot wounds, small caliber and at close range. Note the defensive wounds round the victim’s forearms and wrists. I believe Mr. Clark was struggling with his attacker, assumingly for control of the weapon, when it discharged; after which the killer shot the victim a second time to insure he was, in fact, _dead_.” 

“Guess he was really going for overkill, right?” Danny said with a smirk. “What?” 

Steve was glaring at him, but then turned his attentions back to the body. 

“All right, thanks Max.” He said gruffly. “Anything else?” 

“Not at this time, Commander. I’ll know more after I’ve completed the full autopsy.” 

“All right,” Steve turned back to the rest of the team. “Danny, I want you and Chin to head down to the club, talk to the employees. Find out who had a grudge against Harold Clark.” 

“You think Clark knew his killer.” Chin said in a voice that meant he was catching on to Steve’s wavelength. 

“Clark was shot at close rage, during a struggle, and their are no signs of forced entry. That means he knew the killer well enough to have invited them inside.” 

“Right, we’re on it babe.” Danny said, clapping Steve on the shoulder, before taking off with Chin at his side. 

“Kono, I want you to grab a ride with one the uniforms, head back to HPD, go through everything they all ready have on the break in at the club, as well as any information on Clark.” Steve said, casting a sideways glance at her as she shuffled off towards one of the crime scene techs. 

“Woah, boss, are you sure you don’t need any help around here?” 

“It’s under control.” Steve said finally. “Find someone who’s heading back to HPD and report into me when you get there.” 

Kono stood dumb founded. _Steve was sidelining her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things just keep going from bad to worse with Five-0 don't they? First Shepherd, and now they have the governor to reckon with. All this certainly isn't putting Kono into a very good head space, hopefully it won't lead her into something that might make her an easy target..... 
> 
> As always thanks for reading, comments and kudos always make me excited, and stay tuned!


	4. Coffe and Casenotes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kono finds a new lead in the case, and sets out follow it up, with unforeseeable results.

“Hey” a fimilar voice said as a cup of coffee was placed down next to her elbow, “thought you could use this.” 

Kono looked up from the mountain of paper work scattered before her. The desk sargent hadn’t exactly been helpful, informing her that: 

_“Everything you need is in the file room. Knock yourself out.”_

Eventually she found the boxes she was looking for and an empty interrogation room to work in, having not been offered any place else. 

“Thanks Jasmine.” Kono said, taking a sip and turning back to the report on the club's financials from the past three years. 

Oliana grabbed the metal chair from the other side and dragged it around to sit down with her own cup of coffee. 

“You find anything yet?” she asked casually. Kono shook her head. 

“No. It'd be a lot easier if I had access to the computers but something tells me that isn’t gonna happen.” 

Oliana nodded. “Yeah, Captain isn’t too thrilled with Five-0 high jacking another case from us.” 

“We didn’t high jack it. The governor reassigned it to us.” 

“He seems to do that a lot.” 

“We don’t ask him too and we don’t get a choice when he does.” Kono snapped defensively. “And if it’ll make the Captain happy, we’ve found zero evdiance indication that this was anything more than a personal killing done by someone with a grudge against the owner. There’s no bigger plot here, certainly nothing front page news worthy.” 

“Kono, is everything all right?” Jasmine asked tentatively. 

_No, Steve is furious so he’s sidelining me, the governor is breathing down our necks, there’s a maniac on the lose who’s hurt two of my friends for no apparent reason, all the rest of the people who I thought were my friends apparently can’t stand me anymore, including you, and to top it all off I’m gonna spend the rest of my day in here, wasting time when I could be analyzing actual evidence._

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Kono replied evenly. “I’ve just got a lot of ground to cover. Thanks for the coffee, Jaz.” 

“You’re welcome.” Oliana moved to go, but then turned back, hesitating like she was considering something. “Take a look at page forty-three, the report from March two years ago. Clark noted a three figure sum under ‘Executive Expenses”, the accounts show that he bought out his partner, Randy Cox. Four months after that the club starts bringing in double what Clark paid for the buy out.” 

“Which means it stands to reason that Cox may have felt cheated by his partner.” Kono mused. 

Oliana shrugged. “It’s just a hunch, but I think it’s worth another look. Good luck Kono.” 

**************  
“Well that was a complete and utter waste of time.” Danny gripped as they made their way back to Chin’s Mustang. Their canvas of the club’s employees had turned up next to nothing. Even the general manager claimed to have hardly known Harold Clark, telling the same story as everyone else: 

_“Look brah, he came in to collect the money and authorize the checks. The only person who actually spent anytime with him was Ken, the promotions guy.”_

“Well can’t say we didn’t try. You wanna call McGarrett and give him an update that we’re going to talk to Ken Alvarez?” Chin asked. 

“Want, no, not particularly. He’s been in, shall we say, a mood, since this morning and I’ve learned that I do not want to voluntarily talk to him when he’s like this; it’s better just to let him sulk and pout for an afternoon until he get’s it out of his system.” Danny sighed. “You know he laid into Kono pretty hard this morning.”

“Kono’s a tough kid, she can take it.” 

“Yes, I agree, I know she’s a tough kid, but a kid none the less. Think about it, how would you feel if it was you and Steve’s dad, and he was over reacting and calling you out over something pointless?” Danny asked poignantly.

“I’ll talk to her.” Chin said after a moment. 

“All ready beat you to it babe. The three of us together need to talk to Steve, remind him that we’re all adults here; that we can go to the bathroom by ourselves without getting attacked. Seriously, were you aware that he was following me to the bathroom my first week back? It was unbelievable, I couldn’t get rid of him.” 

Chin laughed. “You know I think I know why Steve does all the driving, I don’t know how you stay in control of the wheel with you hands flying all over the place when you talk.” 

“A lifetime of practice and watching my mom from the back seat of the station wagon.” Danny replied seriously. 

It was then that Chin’s phone rang, Kono’s name popping up on the caller I.D. 

“Hey Cuz, how’s it going over there?” 

“Don’t look now but I think I might be on to something” Kono replied over the speaker, “I looked into Clark's financials and it turns out that up until two years ago his club wasn’t turing up much of a profit.” 

“That’s the story we heard too.” said Chin “Then he hired a new hot shot promoter and business started going through the roof. We’re on our way to interview him now” 

“Right, but did you also hear that right before hiring Ken Alvarez, Clark bought out his business partner for a fraction of what the club started making once Alvarez came on board?” 

“No that is a new one.” Danny said surprised. “You got an I.D. on this partner?” 

“Yeah, his name is Randy Cox. I ran a background check, turns out he filed for bankruptcy last month.” 

Chin and Danny exchanged looks. 

“So Clark buys out Cox, then starts raking in the bucks while leaving his ex-partner broke with no way back in. Sounds like pleanty of motive to me.” Danny said. 

“Great work Kono, are you and Steve on your way to interview Cox?” Chin asked. 

There was a pause. 

“Cuz, you still there?” 

“I’m not with Steve right now.” 

“What?” Chin pressed, “Where are you?” 

“HQ, Steve sidelined me this morning. Sent me over to HPD to go through paperwork. Turns out I found a lead in there and now I’m following up on it.” 

“Woah, Kono, do not poke the bear ok? If Steve finds out you went off chasing a lead by yourself he’s gonna go ballistic. I’ll be the first to admit that he’s been off his rocker lately but he is still technically in charge.” Danny said. 

“Exactly and I want it to stay that way.” Kono leaned, frustrated, against the tech table, studying the DMV photo of Randy Cox on the screen before her. “You heard the governor this morning, he’s not playing around. We need to solve his case, or at least give him enough creditable evidence to show this isn’t a major terror threat.” 

“Officer Kalakaua?” 

Kono looked up to see a non-descript man, in roughly his mid thirties, with short, dull brown hair, and square, frameless, spectacle that highlighted the thin lines flecked around the corners of his brown eyes. 

“Can I help you?” Kono asked. 

“Kono is someone there?” Chin’s voice came through the speaker on the tech table. 

Kono didn’t answer. She’d realized a second too late that the man’s voice was vaguely familiar, and that he wasn’t wearing a visitor’s badge. She didn’t have the chance to reach for her gun before she was staring at the one in his hand, pointed at her. 

“I’m going to need you to come with me.” the man said, tauntingly. 

_She knew that voice now. He’d used the same tone to taunt them about Danny. Shepherd._

“Kono are you are you still there?” 

“Hey, is everything all right? Kono?” 

“Kono? Answer me! KONO!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would just like to take a minute to thank the one and only Mr. Alex O'laughlin for the inspiration for this, he once said in a DVD commentary that he gets worried that something is going to happen to Kono when she's at HQ by herself. I being a mere fanfic writing mortal was powerless to resist such a wonderful prompt!


End file.
